Bone Bank

You can't be too thin or too rich, right? Wrong. Very young dancers and other athletes are discovering that being too thin can mean thin bones too.
At 22, Helen's dreams seemed close to reality. "I'd spent my whole life believing I was going to be a professional ballet dancer with all the indications I had what it took to make it."

But then came a series of stress fractures and other dance-related injuries. This latest -- a broken kneecap -- is from a bicycle accident. Her periods had stopped, and, like so many dancers, she was extremely thin. So with 43 other young women like her, Helen enrolled in a study at Medical Center.

Doctor from the Center for Menopause, Hormonal Disorders and Women's Health, Medical Center, "We found very significant changes in their bones. Some of them had bones that were comparable to women in their 60's, 70's and 80's even."

Forty to 60 percent of normal bone develops during adolescence when sex hormones become active. When a young woman doesn't menstruate, her bones don't strengthen either -- even with vigorous exercise. So doctors tried the same hormone replacement therapy that prevents brittle bones in menopausal women. It didn't work. The study showed that for young women, the bone loss is apparently permanent.

Basically the bank closes at a certain age. That age is somewhere in the late 20's. And you draw on those deposits for the rest of your life.

Helen still dances, though not professionally. She's getting a doctorate in neuro-science and hopes her story will help other young dancers.